GGG vs. Canelo: AT&T Stadium in play to host September 16th showdown

We don’t have a venue named for Gennady Golovkin vs. Canelo Alvarez, but there are three cities being considered.

The great news out of Saturday night was the official announcement of Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) vs. Canelo Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) for September 16th. At stake will be Golovkin’s WBC, IBF, WBA, and (less importantly) IBO Middleweight belts in this highly coveted matchup between two of the best boxers in the world.

We still have one important detail to settle, and that’s where the fight will be held. According to the LA Times’ Lance Pugmire, there are three venues vying to host the event.

The three contenders for @Canelo @gggboxing bout are AT&T Stadium, @TMobileArena and @TheGarden

— Lance Pugmire (@latimespugmire) May 7, 2017

Golovkin has had several of his bouts, including both of his pay-per-views, held at Madison Square Garden. Canelo has never fought in the state of New York. The T-Mobile Arena, which opened in 2016, hosted Canelo’s fights vs. Amir Khan and Chavez Jr, with the latter setting a new attendance record at 20,510. GGG has never fought in Vegas, and in fact all but one of his US-based matchups have occurred in either California or New York.

AT&T Stadium, otherwise known as Cowboys Stadium for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, is where Alvarez fought England’s Liam Smith last September. Canelo vs. Smith drew an attendance of 51,240 (46,115 paid), with a live gate of just over $5 million. The only other boxing matches held at AT&T Stadium were Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey and Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito. Canelo vs. Golovkin would undeniably be bigger than those other three bouts, and it’d be reasonable to think that they could have roughly 100,000 fans on hand if that venue is chosen.

Information on venue, PPV cost, and ticket prices will be revealed in the weeks ahead.